High-resolution fiber-optic low-frequency voltage sensor based on the electrostrictive effect

Author

Fabiny, L. ; Vohra, S.T. ; Bucholtz, F.

Author_Institution

US Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

Volume

5

Issue

8

fYear

1993

Firstpage

952

Lastpage

953

Abstract

A minimum detectable voltage of 40 nV/ square root Hz at 1 Hz is demonstrated in a fiber-optic interferometric low-frequency voltage sensor. The device maintains good resolution below 1 Hz, providing a minimum detectable voltage of 55 nV/ square root Hz at 0.1 Hz and 129 nV/ square root Hz at 0.03 Hz. High resolution at low frequencies is attainable due to the nonlinear strain response of the electrostrictive transducer under an applied electric field, which upconverts low-frequency voltage signals as sidebands of a high-frequency carrier where 1/f noise is not dominant. The measured low-frequency data represent an improvement of >45 dB over previously reported results.<>

Keywords

electrostriction; fibre optic sensors; light interferometers; optical resolving power; voltage measurement; 1/f noise; applied electric field; electrostrictive effect; electrostrictive transducer; fiber-optic interferometric low-frequency voltage sensor; good resolution; high resolution; minimum detectable voltage; nonlinear strain response; Capacitive sensors; Ceramics; Electrostriction; Frequency; Optical fiber devices; Optical fiber sensors; Optical interferometry; Signal resolution; Transducers; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.238266

Filename

238266